“For the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation
than are the children of light.”
Honor among thieves.
Even they look after their own,
sometimes better than the children of light do.
But they do so out of fear and even anger and hate.
I believe that the children of the light do good
because of love and compassion.
This reality often makes me wonder at the interconnectedness of life.
How God draw something good out of something that looks bad.
A colorful wild mushroom impresses with her beauty.
And to think it grows out of the detritus and decay on the forest floor.
There is no limit nor anything impossible with what God can do,
even with our many mistakes and miscalls.
So, I exist in a web of relationships – links to nature, people, God.
I can choose to live my life using these relationships just for my self-satisfaction.
I can choose to live by what the world seems to go by: what is in it for me?
Or, I can choose to live my life in generosity –
to give and not to count the cost,
to labor and not ask for reward.
The more time I spend in silence and prayer,
the more I am prodded to live my life for others,
rather than living it for myself alone.
So, the choice for me is pretty obvious.
Oh, there are times of temptations when I would just want to wallow in selfish gratification;
or just to give up trying, doubting if my efforts are worth anything;
or succumbing to the blandishments of the question most everybody else seems to be asking
– what is in it for me.
Living under the cloud of the great unknowing,
I surrender myself to the great mystery and paradox.